SENATE STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE  February 9, 1995 3:38 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Senator Bert Sharp, Chairman Senator Loren Leman Senator Jim Duncan Senator Dave Donley MEMBERS ABSENT Senator Randy Phillips, Vice-Chairman COMMITTEE CALENDAR SPONSOR SUBSTITUTE FOR SENATE BILL NO. 4 "An Act allowing a person under age 21 to be arrested by a peace officer without a warrant for illegal possession, consumption, or control of alcohol; classifying certain offenses related to driving while intoxicated or failure to submit to a chemical test as felonies; and providing for an effective date." PREVIOUS SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION SB 4 - No previous senate committee action. WITNESS REGISTER Senator Robin Taylor State Capitol, Juneau, Alaska, 99801-1182¶465-3873 POSITION STATEMENT: prime sponsor of SB 4 Juanita Hensley, Chief, Driver Services Div. of Motor Vehicles, Dept of Public Safety P.O. Box 20020, Juneau, AK 99811-0020¶463-5860 POSITION STATEMENT: testified on SB 4 Joe Ambrose, Aide to Senator Taylor State Capitol, Juneau, Alaska, 99801-1182¶465-3873 POSITION STATEMENT: prime sponsor of SB 4 Dave Tyler Alaska State Fire Chief's Association Fairbanks, AK¶479-5672 POSITION STATEMENT: in favor of SB 4 Lee Ann Lucas, Special Assistant to the Commissioner Department of Public Safety P.O. Box 111200, Juneau, AK 99811-1200¶465-4322 POSITION STATEMENT: testified on SB 4 ACTION NARRATIVE TAPE 95-4, SIDE A Number 001 SSTA - 2/9/95 SB 4 DWI LAWS   CHAIRMAN SHARP calls the Senate State Affairs Committee to order at 3:38 p.m. and brings up SB 4 as the first order of business before the committee. The chairman calls the first witness. Number 012 SENATOR TAYLOR, prime sponsor of SB 4 reads the sponsor statement. Number 125 SENATOR DONLEY asks what the penalty would be for a person committing their third DWI in a period of five years and one day. Number 137 JUANITA HENSLEY, Department of Public Safety, responds the offender would have their license suspended for three years with 60 days minimum mandatory incarceration. (Penalties are listed under paragraph 1, subsections A through F in SB 4.) SENATOR LEMAN states he is concerned that DWI's acquired in an area with DWI laws different from Alaska's cannot be counted as previous DWI's. He is especially troubled that they cannot be counted for persons under 21 years of age. JOE AMBROSE, Aide to Senator Taylor, informs the committee that section 1 of SB 4 is the only section which applies to persons under the age of 21. SENATOR LEMAN asks if it wouldn't be good to bring Alaska into consistency. SENATOR TAYLOR replies the average drunk driver apprehended is blowing twice the legal limit. The sad part is if we change our law, then our law would only count as a second offense in seven other states. Senator Taylor suggests it would be nice to pass a law basing the penalty for drunk driving on how high a person's blood alcohol content is. However the state would run into problems with administration and equal protection. Number 250 SENATOR LEMAN asks, regarding confiscation of motor vehicles, if that would constitute "double jeopardy", or being punished twice for the same crime. CHAIRMAN SHARP adds that part of the problem arises from the fact that one is a civil action and one is a criminal action. SENATOR TAYLOR thinks part of the problem might be that different people get different treatment, depending on the value of the vehicle they are driving. Number 275 SENATOR DONLEY asks how the fines in SB 4 are affected by the day- fine bill passed last year, if at all. SENATOR TAYLOR does not have an answer to that question. Number 285 DAVE TYLER, State Fire Chief's Association, testifying via teleconference from Fairbanks, states SB 4 is an important bill. Mr. Tyler also thinks it might be a good concept to have higher penalties for higher blood alcohol contents (bac). It is a known fact that a person with a bac of 0.3 or 0.4 can die. But Mr. Tyler has actually seen "walking, talking 0.6's", and has heard of a case of 0.725 in Anchorage. A person cannot achieve that high a bac by just sitting down and drinking enough beer. It takes a person a long time before they can drink to that level bac. The higher the bac, the more habitual a drinker the person is. MR. TYLER adds SB 4 is important to emergency response personnel. Response personnel have found from experience that alcohol is generally involved in bad accidents. There is a great deal of risk to response personnel. This all falls back to the irresponsibility of someone who is committing a crime. It is time that people be held accountable for their actions. Number 325 CHAIRMAN SHARP notes SB 4 will not be moved from the Senate State Affairs Committee today. The committee is waiting for a fiscal note. Number 328 SENATOR DUNCAN asks if the committee will also be receiving a position paper from the administration. CHAIRMAN SHARP hopes to see one with the fiscal note. SENATOR DUNCAN asks if there is no one from the administration available to testify today. CHAIRMAN SHARP asks if there is anyone from the administration in the audience who would like to testify on SB 4. Number 335 MS. HENSLEY replies she is available to address technical questions. SENATOR DUNCAN asks if the administration supports SB 4. LEE ANN LUCAS, Special Assistant to the Commissioner, Department of Public Safety, responds that the administration is reviewing the bill at this time; they are waiting to see the fiscal notes. SENATOR DUNCAN states he would like to know the administration's position on SB 4. CHAIRMAN SHARP responds the committee will work with the sponsor of SB 4 and the administration to get a position paper from the administration. MS. HENSLEY states there will be significant fiscal impact on the departments from SB 4. The administration wants to give accurate numbers on the fiscal notes. Those numbers should be ready for the committee by next week. Number 340 SENATOR DONLEY asks Ms. Hensley if it is a mandatory minimum sentence of one year for the third DWI offense within five years. MS. HENSLEY replies that is correct, and would include a minimum fine of $1,000. Number 365 SENATOR DONLEY asks why the fine would be left at $1,000, even though the jail time is being increased. MS. HENSLEY responds that the minimum fine is $1,000. The maximum fine allowed is $5,000. SENATOR DONLEY thinks a higher fine might be more of a deterrent to driving while intoxicated. Number 375 MS. HENSLEY replies a law was passed a couple of years ago requiring a DWI offender to pay up to $1,000 to serve his or her time in jail. If the offender did not have $1,000, then their permanent fund dividend was forfeited. Number 380 CHAIRMAN SHARP announces SB 4 will be held pending receipt of the fiscal note. CHAIRMAN SHARP adjourns the Senate State Affairs Committee meeting at 4:06 p.m.